Finding Strength
by Little Minamino
Summary: It hurts to be the weakest, but it hurts even more when you’re supposed to be the strongest. Everyday I wondered why I was even here. What did I have to live for? NaruHina, slight SasuSaku oneshot


It hurts to be the weakest, but it hurts even more when you're supposed to be the strongest. Everyday I wonder why I'm even here. What do I have to live for? I don't even think anyone would notice if I were gone, though I know plenty who would be happy if they ever did.

Is this what it feels like to be alone? To have no one need you? Even if it isn't I can't help but hate this feeling. This feeling that leaves me utterly alone.

I stopped in the middle of the road and just stared. The hokage monument was at the end of this street, I can see it. Shodaime, Nidaime, Sandaime, and Yondaime. They where all so strong and so brave, they were each willing to give their lives for the village and everyone in it. I could never be that brave, or strong, all I ever do is just get in the way. I felt tears blur my vision and I flushed in embarrassment as I quickly wiped them away, hoping that no one saw. The last thing I needed was tears; I was already weak enough as I was now.

Thunder sounded and lightning flashed drawing my attention to the darkened sky. I sniffed a bit as the first drop fell, followed by a second and then before I could blink the heavens opened up and poured its icy tears over my shaking frame. My tears hadn't stopped coming but now that they could be hidden by the rain I didn't really care. Sobs shook my shoulders and I felt my knees grow weak. Finally I couldn't hold myself up any longer and I fell with a thump to my knees. It didn't matter that I looked weak right then because there wouldn't be anyone around to see me. I was the only one stupid enough to be out in weather like this.

"Hinata?"

I gasped and my eyes flew open. I don't remember when I closed them or when I had buried my head in my knees but right then I didn't care. All that mattered was that someone had seen me being weak again. I quickly lifted my head but kept my arms tightly wrapped around my stomach in attempt to feel protected. I squinted through the rain, trying to make out who it was that found me. Whisker like scars and worried blue eyes where all I could make out, but it was enough.

"N-Naruto-kun!" I was shocked and just a bit scarred. He already thought that I was some sort of dark weirdo and now that he has seen me like this…I almost started sobbing again at the mere idea of what he must think of me. Instead I held it in and just let my unstoppable tears run their tracks down my cheeks.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked as he offered me a hand up. I tried to answer, to nod, anything to tell him that I was but I couldn't. After a few seconds he gave a self mocking laugh and touched my cheek where my hot tears still fell. "Stupid question," he said. "After all, if you were okay you wouldn't be crying ne?"

My eyes widened. How could he tell that I was crying? The rain should have hidden any sign and yet here he was touching the exact places where my salty tears tracked. He must have seen my question on my face because he gave another soft laugh and gently grabbed my hands.

"Come on Hinata, you need to get out of this rain before you get sick," he lifted me to my feet and started leading me in a direction I didn't know. "Since the Hyuuga compound is on the other side of the village I'll just take you to my place. It's a lot closer."

I felt my cheeks flush and I looked down at my feet. I was going to Naruto-kun's house! And he wanted me to be there! I felt as though I could fly.

The walk to Naruto's house was silent but that was alright with me. I didn't really feel like talking about why I was crying anyway. About half way there I started shivering and I cursed myself for forgetting my jacket in my haste to leave my house. My heal hit a rock and I winced as I was reminded that I had also forgotten my shoes. I felt more tears well up in my eyes but I fought them back.

"Ne, Hinata," Naruto said and I lifted my eyes slightly.

"A-aa?" instead of answering Naruto simply draped his orange jacket over my shoulders and turned his back to me. I blushed again as I realized that he was going to give me a piggy back. "N-Naruto-k-kun, I-I can—."

"Don't worry about it Hinata," he said. "Just get on. It will be faster then just walking and right now you really have to get out of the rain."

I felt like my head was going to explode but I nodded, not realizing that he couldn't see me and slid my arms through his jacket's sleeves before wrapping them around his neck. He lifted me easily, and his hands slid under my knees for extra support. I shivered at the contact and was glad he thought it was because of the cold.

"Hang on, Hinata," Naruto said as he began to run down the street. I tightened my arms slightly but not enough to choke him. My head began to feel heavy and hot. I hate blushing. After only a few minutes of running, Naruto stopped outside of a large brown apartment building. I assumed that we were going to take the stairs so it surprised me greatly when he suddenly leapt into the air.

"Naruto-kun!" I gasped in fright.

"Gomen Hinata, but this is faster then taking the stairs."

I nodded, still slightly shaken, and settled back the way I was. The door he finally stopped at was on the fifth floor and was the third one down from the stairwell. Carefully he shifted me to the side and reached into his pocket for his keys. He swiftly slid one into the lock and opened the door. Once inside he sat me down on his couch and asked me to wait there for a second. While he was in the other room I looked around the living room in surprise. I had expected it to be a huge mess but it was actually so clean that it almost shined.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Hinata," Naruto said when he came back. "It took a while to find something that would fit you." Before I could ask what he meant a t-shirt and a pair of shorts landed on the armrest next to me. "The bathroom is down the hall to the left."

"O-okay, ari-gato." The shower I took was quick, partly because I was afraid to add on to his water bill but mostly because I had never been very comfortable taking showers at houses other then my own. Never mind the fact that my crush was right on the other side of the door.

I shut off the water and grabbed one of the bright orange towels from the rack by the door. I had just finished dressing and was drying my hair when there was s knock on the door. I jumped and held the towel close to my body.

"Y-yes?"

"Dinner is ready Hinata," Naruto said.

"A-arigato, Naruto-kun."

I heard him leave and I sighed. Turning to my left I looked at my reflection in the mirror and blushed. The clothes he gave me must have been ones he hadn't worn for years because the red spiral patterned shirt was small enough that it slightly showed off my stomach and the red shorts were so short that they rode up past my mid thigh. My blush darkened. I couldn't go out there like this!

'Why not?' a voice asked from the back of my mind. 'He gave them to me, and besides this would be a good way to get his attention.'

"Ah," I whispered. "What am I thinking?"

"Hinata?" Naruto knocked again. "Are you coming out?"

"H-hai," I answered my voice slightly squeaky. "I-I'm coming."

I opened the door slowly and shyly peaked up to see Naruto's grinning face. "Feel better?" He asked and I nodded as I looked back down at my feet. "Come on," He said as he grabbed my hand. "I made ramen. You like miso right?"

Startled I looked up and nodded. "Y-yes, it's my favorite."

"I thought so," Naruto said as he lead me to the table and sat me down in one of the chairs. "I remembered that you ordered it the last two times I ate with your team at Ichiraku."

"You did?" I was shocked. He actually noticed something like that?

"Yeah, I know what kind of ramen all of my close friends like."

"Really?" I asked. "Like who?"

"Well, Kiba's and Chouji's favorite is beef, and Sasuke's is shrimp. Sakura and Neji like chicken and Ino and Lee like pork. Shino likes vegetable and so do Tenten and Shikamaru. Actually," Naruto said as he pealed the top off of his ramen cup. "Miso is my favorite too. It used to be pork but Iruka-sensei made me try miso when I was ten and I've liked it ever since."

I smiled as I listened to him talk, he told me a lot about what missions he had done in the past and some of the pranks he had pulled and I couldn't help but be grateful that he hadn't asked me why I was out earlier. He must have been talking for almost three hours before he finally stretched and looked at the clock.

"Wow, it's already ten," he moved his eyes over to the window where the rain was still pouring. "Well there is no way that you can go home in that so it seems like you'll be staying here tonight."

I felt my face burn at the thought of staying in Naruto-kun's house the whole night but I didn't say anything. The truth was I really wanted to stay here. Naruto's home was a thousand times better then my house. "Th-thank-you Naruto-k-kun."

Naruto grinned slightly though his face looked a bit confused, almost as if he wanted to ask a question. I waited for him to speak, to shy to ask him what was bothering him.

"Ne, Hinata," he said hesitantly. "Can I ask you something?"

Oh how I wished the shade I felt my face turning was impossible to exist. "H-hai."

"How come you stutter all of the time?"

My eyes grew wide. Whatever question I had been expecting it was not that. "N-nani?"

He rubbed the back of his head a bit awkwardly and gave me a silly half grin. "I know it's kinda a weird question but I noticed at the chuunin exam that you stutter all of the time. Why?"

I frowned softly as I tried to think of an answer. Why did I stutter? I wasn't really sure. "I-I don't k-kno-w," I dared a glance at Naruto and was surprised to find him actually interested. "I-I guess, m-may-b-be because I-I'm…sc-scared."

"Scared?" Naruto seemed surprised. "Of what?"

I looked down and shrugged.

"Is that why you were crying?"

I bit my lip trying to fight back the tears that threatened to come. With a valiant effort I shook my head no.

"Then why?"

"N-no-b-body c-cares," I said as my tears started to fall. "I-I'm t-too we-eak to b-be of us-e s-o, so…" I couldn't finish. I didn't want to burden him with my problems when his were so much worse.

"You don't really think that do you?" Naruto once again sounded surprised. "Do you really believe that you're weak?"

I didn't answer.

I heard foot steps and the next thing I knew he was standing right in front of me. Once again I blushed, this time at the close proximity. "You shouldn't listen to what those idiots tell you Hinata-chan."

"N-no!" I said not even noticing the suffix he attached to my name. "They're right! I am weak and useless and all I ever do is get in the way! I can't do anything ri-."

I stopped abruptly at the sudden feel of his fingers on my lips. "You know you sound a lot better when you don't stutter and I think you would sound even better then that if you said good things about yourself without stuttering instead of those lies."

I didn't know what to say. No one had ever said anything like that to me before. All I could do was stare. Finally I felt a smile creep over my face and I decided that what I was going to say was going to be said without a stutter, no matter how hard it was. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I opened my mouth and spoke.

"Thank-you Naruto-kun, you don't know how much that means to me."

I opened my eyes and found Naruto grinning more broadly then I had ever seen him grin before. And that grin was for me! I could have died right then and been perfectly happy for the rest of eternity.

"Sleep well Hinata."

"You t-oo."

* * *

Hinata smiled down at the sleeping figure on the bed but decided to continue with her story anyway.

"That night was the greatest sleep I had ever had, and all because your father showed that he had faith in a little dark weirdo that was having a very bad day." She smiled softly and bent down to kiss the wild golden spikes her son had inherited from his father. "Sleep well Jomei-chan."

"Hey Hina-chan," Naruto said as his wife exited their son's room.

"Ohayo Hokage-sama," Hinata mocked with a grin. "Did you have a productive day?"

"Fairly," Naruto answered as he placed a kiss on Hinata's awaiting lips. "Sasuke-teme came in to request time off for the twins' birthday. I agreed under the condition that he would complete a mission for me."

"Oh? What kind of mission?"

"Let's just say that my best friend is not going to be my best friend for a while."

"Did you tell him to substitute for Lee-kun's team again?"

Naruto sent her an innocent look. "Maybe…"

"You know someday he is going to sick Sakura on you."

Naruto winced and rubbed his head remembering his genin days. "I hope not. I got enough of Sakura-chan's punches when I was twelve to last me a life time."

Hinata laughed and took her husband's hand before leading him down the hall and into their room. "You know…you have been working awfully late recently. I don't get to see much of you anymore…"

"Really?" Naruto smirked. "We'll have to fix that."

Hinata giggled as the door to their shared room swung shut by a nudge from Naruto's foot and the rest, as they say, is history.

* * *

Kaliea: Hey all. I wrote this because I realized that I tended to spend a lot of time focusing on SasuSaku. Now I'm not a very good NaruHina writer but I did my best so drop me a review and tell me what you think if you please. Arigato and until next time, ja ne! 


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